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practical differences between a 8frame med and 5 frame deep

I was wondering about the differences , the both have the same square inches of frame real estate for queen laying. but how do they compare in the overwintering and standing the heat of the summer. Admittedly I like staying with all one size frame and have access to free external plywood and have started started making five frame boxes.

Re: practical differences between a 8frame med and 5 frame deep

The biggest issue would be stability, but the mediums also communicate better in winter as the cluster tends to span more than one box. I think the eight frame fits a typical cluster better. The five frame would crowd them more and a ten frame has excess space on the sides.

Re: practical differences between a 8frame med and 5 frame deep

correct me if I am wrong but won't the cluster adjust for the size and shape of the box, tree, or what ever the container they are in. Yes there would be a stability problem I can see that. Would it then a t-post put next to the hive and the box strap to it help any, or have multiple boxes next to each other to lend there support. Or some variation of these themes. the reason I ask these questions is that I have access to quite a few of these boxes and want to multipurpose them and the other day I was reading Michael Bush's book (Loved by the way, learned a lot) and he was talking about how the 8 frame med was a good compromise between the med and deep boxes.

Re: practical differences between a 8frame med and 5 frame deep

>correct me if I am wrong but won't the cluster adjust for the size and shape of the box, tree, or what ever the container they are in.

Sort of. They prefer to be spherical, but they can adjust if they need to. But they do better when they are spherical and fill the space available naturally. With a ten frame they will NOT fill the space out to the walls, they will be spherical and in the middle somewhere. Honey will be left behind.

Re: practical differences between a 8frame med and 5 frame deep

Originally Posted by Michael Bush

Sort of. They prefer to be spherical, but they can adjust if they need to. But they do better when they are spherical and fill the space available naturally. With a ten frame they will NOT fill the space out to the walls, they will be spherical and in the middle somewhere. Honey will be left behind.

So would the four-five frame boxes then allow the cluster to fully utilize the available honey stores they have, would that not help in those really cold winters , help stop starving?

Last edited by weldingfreak6010; 05-07-2013 at 09:24 PM.
Reason: spelling